Charging cows, chaar and chaa, and a conference thrown in for good measure....

Jaymasi!


Life has started to calm down just a bit, but here are a few highlights from the last three weeks....


1.  Conference: we had a wonderful conference in Badanthilkantha (northern KTM) where all of our staff came for a four day conference and retreat.  We were VERY busy fitting everything into schedule, and I'll admit I have never been so tired in my life (which is what happens when you volunteer for all the committees, help out with worship, MC, and help organize the whole thing in general!) but it was fantastic.  I finally was able to meet the majority of my colleagues, who are from all over the world :)  They are amazing people who inspire me and leave me feeling honored to be able to work with them and serve them.  At the end of the conference, I had the same bittersweet feeling you get when you are saying goodbye to relatives after a vacation....many of these people/families I won't get to see again until next year at conference, as they work far away in very remote areas of Nepal.


2.  Language Class!  I have 'officially' started my "for real" language class :)  Two dutch friends and I are being tutored by a Nepali man and his family by use of the Greg Thompson method.  Basically, this method is non-academic and mimics language learning methods used by young children: in short, you learn to recognize sounds and actions through games and interaction...your homework involves going out into the city and interacting with Nepalis (whether at a restaurant, the supermarket, your taxi driver, etc.) and reporting back on your experiences.  I'm very excited about it, and our teacher says that we are doing very well, which is always encouraging!  I did have a bit of trouble with "chaar" and "chaa": the first word means 'four' and second means 'six' - and let me tell you, they sound EXACTLY THE SAME.  It is very humbling to work for a half hour on pronouncing '1-10' correctly!


3. Cows....Yesterday a friend and I rode our bikes down to the General Mailing in KTM in order to pick up a package.  The bike ride is about a half hour both ways.  As we were zipping around the corner of a chowk (roundabout) we (me, my friend, and a rickshaw driver) almost crashed into a pack of charging cows in the middle of the road!  There was lots of shouting, honking, swerving...but we all got out ok, even the rickshaw driver.  That night at dinner, we all laughed about how the biggest hazard on the road is COWS....and potholes the size of craters.  Ah, life in Kathmandu!!!!


I am seriously beginning to fall in love with this place....

ke bhayo?

jamasi!


My my, so many things to write about!  My life here in Nepal is most definitely a constant paradox: there are both moments of extreme hilarity, and extreme sadness as I am thrown against a culture and religion that is so tangibly LOST.  


To start, a few moments of pure hilariousness:
1.  A friend and I biked to a bakery in order to purchase some sort of dessert for a dinner party we were invited to.  I was inspecting desserts in the cooler that resembled something like a very large swiss cake roll.  Looking at the sahuniji (female shopkeeper), I asked "ke bhayo?".... what I meant to ask was "what is this" or "yo ke ho?", but instead I pointed at the cake and asked her "what happened?"  She gave me a very confused, slightly offended look, and my lovely American friend jumped to my rescue, asking her the correct the question.  I shared this story at our staff meeting on Friday, and everyone loved it, assuring me that there will be many awkward moments to come!


2.  While driving in a taxi, a friend of mine asked the other passenger and I "how do you say 'stop' in nepali?"  Simultaneously, both of us replied "roknus!", at which point the taxi driver slammed on his brake (my forehead almost hit the dash) in the middle of the road!  Luckily he was good-natured and got quite a laugh out of our "nepali bhashaa practice" :D


3.  Early in the morning I was walking to language class, and was almost run over by a motorcyclist...ok not usually funny, but this particular gentlemen had his helmet on askew, and was belting out a nepali song at the TOP OF HIS LUNGS...I can't believe I almost died for the sake of a Nepali love ballad.


Sobering moments:
1.   I visited a temple with a friend about two weeks ago...it was the strangest thing: there were so many videshis (foreigners) leisurely strolling around with their cameras, taking pictures of both the temple and the Nepalis, who were frantically scurrying around the temple desperately attempting to spin each and every prayer wheel on the hopes that one of their gods will acknowledge their prayers.  What struck me about this was the looks on these people's faces: FEAR.  Fear that their cries will not be heard or acknowledged, that their cosmic deities really have no interest in their hopes, dreams, and fears.  Laughing videshis taking pictures of a people group desperately trying to appeal to their gods....I couldn't stomach it.  What a privilege to know the ONE TRUE God who knows each and every hair on our heads! Every prayer is heard, and every prayer is answered.  Do we know how blessed we are?  I think most of us take our Lord and His constant care and provision on a daily basis for granted...and this includes me.  But at times maybe we find it easier to take something so amazing for granted rather than be overwhelmed by the enormity of it every day...


My Lord God,
Your attention and guardianship are overwhelming to me!
That nothing in this world or the supernatural realms can touch me without your permission
is completely beyond my frail, human comprehension.
Grant your servant the ability to live each day in this reality; 
to take risks, to seek the lost, and love the un-lovable.
For we are immortal until the moment we complete on Earth the tasks which You created us for.
To You all alone be all glory and honor!